There will be times in business where you encounter clients who continue to refuse to pay what is owed even after a case has gone to Country Court and a judgement has been made in your favour. Fortunately, if the debtor is particularly stubborn in settling their debt it is still possible to get hold of the money owed to you by obtaining a Charging Order.
A Charging Order only applies to debtors in England and Wales who have recently had a County Court judgement made against them for not paying debts owed to you. If the process has taken place without the debtor paying up, then the Charging Order can be raised if you don’t want to go down the route of using Bailiffs or enforcement officers, which are the other alternatives.
A Charging Order can be successfully used on individuals and sole traders who own their own property. The debt owed to you will effectively be secured against their property so that if the property is ever sold or re-mortgaged, then the money owed to you will be paid from the proceeds which you would be legally entitled to.
Having this unsecured debt hanging over them should be enough to convince most debtors to eventually pay up and avoid the hassle.